It Starts With Vibrant colours
by RiddledWithLies
Summary: Suddenly there was a lot more life in the world and the colours recently dimmed were more vibrant than ever. Time agent Ianto with Ianto/Jack. Need I say more?
1. Let The Games Commence

**Dedicated to, well *shrug* myself I guess...**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, Torchwood's not mine. It's merely the colouring book I found when bored, and after colouring in for a while decided to show to my parents- the crayon might have gone slightly over the edges as this is not inside the imaginary Russel T Davies shaped line. **

**It will however include all of Series 1 and 2 of Torchwood, along with Utopia-The last of the Time Lords and The Stolen Earth-Journey's end- so only a few spoilers. ( I'm still unsure about whether or not to include COE). While this will have all the major events they will happen in a different way, as is the convention of Fanfiction.**

Life was always taken for granted.

That was what he decided as he heard the distinctive noise of the 'clanking' footsteps. This wasn't the first time he had been faced death before. In fact he had faced this particular enemy before; in the agency he had fought them in their invasion of Earth. The cybermen. They had won, but at a cost, so when he looked across the room, at the survivors that littered the corridor-all having fought their way down to the archives to regroup and rearm- and met the frightened eyes of the only Archivist researcher still alive he did not try to feed him lies of everything turning out alright because, in truth, he had no idea how this would end. The man -Nathan- was his age but inexperienced in comparison to himself and had no skill with weaponry.

He was from the fifty first century, and had been recruited into the time agency at seventeen years old. However, what a better way to learn how to use some of the previously unused torchwood technology, the last scraps that they had scavenged in order to get an advantage over the cybermen, than to press a load of buttons and hope everything went okay. It was a live or die situation, but as Ianto recalled that was how he had been trained. He knew that he had three options: to be deleted, get upgraded or die doing what Ianto Jones did best- kicking ass.

He glanced over at Nathan, and the two shared a look of comradeship and Ianto knew that if they survived he had just earned himself a lifelong friend. The moment was broken however when looked down at what Nathan was holding and snorted. At the others questioning look he gestured at the object with a smirk, "in a life or death situation I do not think that a forty second century..._toy_... will be much use in fighting the cybermen." He laughed at the disgusted look on his colleges face as he dropped the object as though it had burnt him before throwing him a disbelieving look. Ianto's smiled widened, he and Nathan had never been close but everyone had heard of his ability to have a sense of humour in the most hopeless of situations, but had evidently Nathan had not witnessed this first hand.

"How the hell did you know that?" Nathan demanded of him, he just grinned back at him.

"It's complicated." Nathan threw him an unimpressed look.

"I've got approximately 10 minutes left to live; you think I care about complicated?"

"Good point. Long story short. I'm from the future." He watched the other divulge that before the other turned to him, his face sombre.

"Then you must know, do we live past this day?" Immediately Ianto felt his face go devoid of emotion and as he quoted the first and most important rule of the time agency he heard the clanking growing ever louder.

CLANK. CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.

"Time can be rewritten. Tell you what; if we get out of this alive I'm taking you to a drink." The other nodded in understanding, knowing that both wanted-no needed- to have something to work towards. To fight for.

Nathan made a good attempt at a smile, but Ianto could see the terror lying beneath. "Sorry mate, I don't swing that way. And I have a girlfriend"

Ianto grinned, forcedly, eyeing up the other's slim frame. "Shame."

"I heard you had a girlfriend too."

Ianto's thoughts immediately went to Lisa. His best friend of three years. And of course the constant bearer of Ianto's flirting, but nothing had ever happened; Ianto would never risk their friendship that way. He wondered where she was now. Or if she was even still herself... "We're best friends." He offered Nathan, by way of explanation.

They heard shouting overhead but they ignored it in favour of the 3 cybermen at the end of the corridor. Ianto opened his wrist strap, activating the electrical barrier that he had set up at the beginning of the chaos. Ianto knew it wouldn't last long but it bought them time as the first cybermen to cross the invisible barrier crippled.

He saw Nathan cast a glance at the wrist watch and then meet his eye. "Future tech?" The other asked and he winked. The other rolled his eyes, both refocused on the fight.

Ianto heard shouts of commotion upstairs and could only hope that they were doing better than those whose bodies now lined the sublevels above. The electrical barrier failed and Ianto gripped his M1911 standard torchwood employee gun knowing it would do little good against them.

He heard the voice from across the room even above multiple shouts of "FIRE!" Two cybermen fell, but more just kept on coming.

"Delete. Delete. Delete." He looked into the emotionless pit of one cyberman's eyes, trying with all his willpower not to remember that they had once been human too. He pulled the trigger. The cyberman fell.

One man came running in from the other side of the-non infested-corridor, yelling at the top of his voice. "Daleks! There are daleks incoming!" Immediately Ianto's blood ran cold. The two cruelest creatures in one place, what had Earth ever done to deserve that?

"Shit." He grabbed Nathan and started to run with the crowd of about thirteen others. "How the hell are we going to get out of this?" He yelled.

A shiver ran through him as he heard a scream reverberate through the air, and the emotionless voice sounded. "The human has been deleted."

"Don't worry," Ianto's head whipped round to stare at the other man, incredulously, was this man joking? The man was dark skinned and wore a white lab coat. The thing that reassured him however was the huge gun that the man held in his hands. "I'm Mickey." Personally Ianto couldn't care less what the man's name was but couldn't find it in himself to tell the other man as he pulled the trigger of his gun again. "And the Doctor's got this under control." Controlled was the last thing that Ianto would describe the chaos that surrounded them, however every Torchwood member had heard of the miracles the Doctor performed. Ianto prayed this was one of those times, where they could be saved but as he looked down at a lifeless body and the glassy eyes that stared up at him, he doubted that very much.

The agency had never prepared him for this.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

He had lost Nathan; he realised this as he looked over his shoulder only to find an empty space where seconds ago Nathan had been on his tail. He cursed loudly; he had promised himself not to lose the other man. He glanced quickly around the corridor, finding that it was eerily empty, with only a couple of bodies lining the corridor.

Ianto approached the first, he recognised the face. It was Maria Wills; he'd never been close with her but at that moment he could easily recall a conversation they had had over coffee-them laughing at an article they had seen in the paper. The sound of 'clanking' echoed throughout the corridor and he closed his eyes in defeat. They say your life is supposed to flash before your eyes before you die, and Ianto had to say if the black that showed the back of his eyelids was his life, his life had been shit. But Ianto supposed, maybe he wasn't going to die. Ianto grinned. That was the spirit. He immediately slipped into an alcove, reloading his near to useless gun.

Just then a man, in a trench coat and converses ran into the corridor, but before he could get far Ianto yanked him into the alcove with him. The man was flush against him but for once Ianto couldn't care any less, he clamped his hand over the complaints the other man was about to make. "Look, I really don't want to see you dead so keep your mouth shut." The man immediately quietened and Ianto relaxed as the clanking noise subsided.

"Thank you, you just saved my-what are you doing?" Ianto was already walking in the direction of the clanking when the other started to talk.

"Fighting, what does it look like?" The other looked startled.

"But you've got no weapon, that's suicide." Ianto shrugged, with an easy smile.

"Well someone's got to show the cybermen whose boss." Ianto looked at the body of Maria. "Not all of us wanted this." He said spontaneously. "I'm just trying to right the mistakes that Torchwood's made, stop our actions from affecting the rest of the human race, and if that means I die, then so be it."

The man stared calculatingly at him before asking, "What's your name?"

Ianto paused, before deciding to tell the title given to him by the agency, after all the agency loved military titles. "Lieutenant Jones, sir." The other nodded, the other didn't offer his name and he didn't push.

"Maybe there is still hope for some." The other stated.

Ianto grinned. "I've got work to do," he indicated down the hall to the dying sounding of the cybermen. "I hope you live handsome, it would be a shame for the world to lose a pretty face like yours." The other rolled his eyes, and for a moment they both stood awkwardly before spurring into action, both heading in opposite directions.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

The battle was over; blood covered his suit and hands. The Doctor- who Ianto was disappointed he hadn't met after all the stories that had told about him, it would have been interesting- had saved the world but as Ianto looked around he knew that nobody would forget the horrors they had witnessed. He felt sick as he looked at his red hands, but as a man who had been trained to deal with such situations he took a deep breath and straightened up, making an attempt at normality and started to help co-ordinate some of the UNIT helpers, trying to recover a list of the dead just so he could _know _what had happened to his friends. _To Lisa._

"Ianto! Ianto immediately turned at the sound of his name, in a very familiar voice- if not slightly croaky.

"Lisa!" He called, pushing through the. He found her lying on the floor, slumped against the wall. "I thought you were dead." He gasped in relief, though it was short lived as he heard her croak, "I wish I was." She then held up her arm and he felt his blood run cold as he saw it was half converted; a quick scan of her body told him that she also had a bullet to the lower abdomen.

"This can't be happening." Ianto immediately took her into his arms, ignoring her weak objections.

"Ianto you need to leave me here, "She continued firmly as he made to protest. "No, listen to me. I'm not stupid, I know what will happen next. I'll become one of them. You need to promise me you won't let that happen no matter what it takes."

Ianto had no doubts about what she meant. "No. You cant ask me-"

"I can and I will." Lisa responded and Ianto felt his breath hitch in his throat, his eyes started to sting. "I want to die being able to remember who I am, who my family, who my friends are..." Ianto knew that she had asked him knowing he could never resist a dying woman's wish. A hero complex, she called it.

"How will I do without you though?" Ianto sniffed, tears flowing freely.

"How will you without my ass you mean?" Ianto managed a shaky smile at her attempt at humour.

"Yeah, yours was the only decent one around here." They both avoided looking at their actual surroundings, trying to forget the reality of the situation, desperately grasping for a normal thread of conversation.

Lisa let out a shaky laugh, before gasping in pain. "I want you to do it."

He nodded in understanding, he could not let another do it in his stead. It must be him to do it. To end Lisa's life. She met his eyes in understanding. "Thank you." Ianto heard the unspoken words, and as he aligned the gun, he whispered, "I'll miss you too."

He pulled the trigger.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

Ianto was in shock. He stood unseeingly on the curb outside the remains of Torchwood One.

"Lieutenant...?" A tentative voice caught his attention and he looked up to see Nathan standing two metres away. It was clear by the look on the others face that he had been trying to get his attention for quite some time, and Ianto quickly cleared his throat, indicating clearly that the other should not breach the topic.

"Drop the title and I'll buy you that drink I owe you." Ianto smirked, and he watched as the other struggled to react.

"Yeah, you do, but I'm bringing my girlfriend along to act as a buffer. You'd just feel me up."

Ianto grinned. "And we wouldn't want that now."

"Plus I think she'll want to meet the man who saved my life." Ianto looked away awkwardly, he didn't want nor like hero worship and he hoped against hope that Nathan didn't either. Nathan, sensing that the other was uncomfortable, changed the topic, although admittedly to an equally emotional and therefore uncomfortable topic. "Your friend. Is she-?"

"Dead." Ianto finished. His throat one again dry and suddenly it was hard to speak.

"Oi, you two!" Ianto turned round gratefully at the sound of the London accent, and sure enough there was a skinny man in a doctor's lab coat, looking at him. There was a mix of emotions conflicting on the others face: weariness, annoyance, a tad of concern but thankfully he couldn't find any pity on the others face. Now this was someone he could deal with right now.

"Are you talking to me, handsome?" He asked, making sure to run his eyes down the others figure trying to regain any semblance of normality-for him anyway. Contrary to the usual reaction of the 21st century men, the doctor just rolled his eyes, letting out a long sigh, with the air of a man who had to put up with crap every day.

"Hey hey hey," Nathan said jokingly, "and I thought it was only me you flirted with." Ianto threw him an amused look.

"You expect me to remain devoted to one person. Who already has a girlfriend?" Ianto fake shuddered. "Never." Nathan smiled widely and the doctor cleared his throat loudly, once again attracting their attention.

"Look I'm Doctor Owen Harper and need to check you over, for any injuries."

"If you wanted to check me out you could have just asked." Ianto grinned at the annoyed look on the others face.

"God, you would get along nicely with my boss. Only he could find something to flirt with in a mess like this. Names?" The doctor asked a clip board at the ready.

"Nathan Rosser."

Before Ianto could open his mouth to reply however, a beeping noise sounded from his wrist strap. Ianto looked at his wrist in surprise and fear. That meant a time agent was near. He growled in frustration, could he ever catch a break?

"Hey, that wrist strap looks like my boss'. Captain Jack Harkness." Immediately Ianto's head snapped up to look at the other. Captain Jack Harkness? Must be an alias. What kind of fifty first century time agent would want to live in twenty first century Britain. It was too socially against everything that a time agent would do that he didn't think any would turn up here.

"Oh?" Ianto prayed beyond hope that they were someone he had not made an enemy of, or they weren't here so he had time to run.

"Yeah, that's him over there," Doctor Harper pointed across the street to a man standing in a military coat and Ianto felt his heart stop. Suddenly there was a lot more life in the world and the colours recently dimmed were more vibrant than ever, for standing infront of him was his childhood best friend of ten years- five of which they were lovers- and the last time he had seen him was when they were both on the run from the time agency at risk of memory loss, or in Ianto's case death.

Ianto grinned wickedly, a plan already hatching in his minds' eye.

Let the games commence.

**My first Torchwood Fanfiction. What do you think...? Press that little blue button to let me know :)**

**Lazi x**

(Word count: 2833)


	2. The Silver Lining

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and those who put me on story alert or as their favourite story... I guess this chapter is dedicated to you. I'm really proud of myself for this. I've never updated a story this fast... not that I'ver ever done a Torchwood Fanfiction before, but ah well, it's all relative... :) **

**PS. You should know, I babble a lot. **

Over the last week Ianto's list of things to do had grown tenfold. First and foremost though-he had to see his sister.

He knew that Torchwood had letters written in advance to the next of kin of their employees and dreaded to think of his adoptive sister's reaction to the news of his death and had been putting off the time when he would have to reveal he was indeed alive and that her grieving had meant nothing. He was a coward and he knew it, but he had never been scared of anyone more than his sister's tantrums-hell, he'd take a slitheen any day over this-, and he was sure that even when she was pregnant wouldn't even compare to her reaction to his turning up on her doorstep. At least he knew well enough not to try tell her over the phone. However as he sat in his car across the road from her house he could not find it in himself to move, how would he be able to explain what he had been through in the last week. He shivered at the thought of the 'Battle of Canary Wharf', as people were calling it, and sighed as he tried to think of a way to explain his need to stay and help in the aftermath of the battle. And although he had already told her everything about his job at Torchwood and what it entailed, he did not want her to know the horrors he had witnessed.

His sister. Rhiannon Davies. He had known her since she had taken him in when he had arrived in the 21st century- after turning rouge from the Agency, due to the minor problem of them signing his death warrant. Literally. The Agency had seen the amount the Logopolis were offering for his capture or body- and all because of a stupid dare. Ianto rolled his eyes. He blamed Jack for that, but still, like they were supposed to know that streaking was against the law and punishable by death. Stupid aliens and their anti-51st century attitude.

_Knock. Knock._

Ianto started at the sudden noise, looking up to find Rhiannon's husband, Johnny starring through the dark glass. He cringed inwardly at the implications of the others presence, before thanking the Lord for tinted windows which gave him time to paste a huge smile on his face and roll down the window.

"Hey Handsome." He greeted the other, he watched Johnny glance at the window somewhat nervously before gulping and turning back to him. Ianto felt a real smile replace the fake at the anxiety Johnny obviously felt towards his wife, purposely ignoring the fact that his sister had the same hold over him too.

"Rhiannon spotted you parking here over an hour ago." Johnny deadpanned, and Ianto only just held in a wince.

"She's been waiting that long? I'm surprised." Johnny smiled.

"Yeah, well let me tell you: she is pissed." Ianto snorted at the understatement before opening the door to get out of the car. Immediately he was smothered with an unexpected but not unwelcome hug from his brother in law who, pulled back quickly and Ianto paused a moment allowing Johnny to put his 'macho' face on again. That didn't stop Ianto staring at the other with a distinctly amused look on his face.

"Look, mate," He started with a smirk, "as great as it would be-"

Johnny cut him off quickly. "Shut up. I just," The other quickly corrected his slip up. "I mean _Rhiannon_ missed you-" The other coughed awkwardly and Ianto rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"I missed you too Johnny." Ianto effectively ruined the conversation as he accompanied the statement with a wink. He shrugged inwardly, that was his coping mechanism. Johnny just smiled softly before shaking his head, and asking. "Ianto, whe-?"

Ianto cut him off, heading towards the foredoomed couple of hours in which his ears would be tortured with the shouts of his sister. "Let's go inside before we start the interrogation."

At that Johnny grinned teasingly. "Were you really too scared to come inside?"

They stopped just outside the front door as Ianto raised his eyebrows at the other. "Scared? I was bloody terrified."

The laugh however died on both of their faces as they opened the door to see a stony, white faced Rhiannon standing on the bottom steps of the stairs, arms crossed and looking furious. The effect however was ruined as two children came running from the top of the stairs, shouting. "Uncle Ianto! Uncle Ianto!" The immediate change in his sister's demeanour changed as her children came into view and his cheek to stop himself laughing , which he was sure would not be appreciated- at the now soft but stern expression on her face.

"I told you two to go to bed." His sister told the two children who were now latched on either one of his legs hugging him tightly.

"Heyah, squirts." He told them. Never had he been so glad to see them. Mica, at aged six was smiling up at him brightly, while her four year old brother, David, clung to his leg with pout, clearly wanting his uncle to pick him up.

"We wanted to see Uncle Ianto." They both turned to him with frowns. "Mummy kept saying you had gone to see God," Ianto froze. "She kept crying and saying you wouldn't come back but we knew you would." Immediately Ianto felt a hundred times worse for not coming back sooner.

"Go to bed kids, you'll get to see Uncle Ianto tomorrow." Johnny said, while Rhiannon gave him a glare that gave him no doubt of what could happen if he didn't comply.

Mica and David immediately protested loudly. "Listen to your parents." Ianto told them, with a smile. "I'll be here in the morning. Cooked breakfast and all." They both nodded and with few complaints were lead to bed by Johnny, who threw Ianto a 'God help you' look.

Immediately after the children were out of hearing range Ianto turned to Rhiannon, surprised to find not a glare but her face crumpling and a tear rolling down her cheek. "Rhiannon, I'm so sorry." He lead her into the lounge and they both sat down. He pulled her into his arms, and when she spoke it was with a throaty, tearful voice. "I thought you were dead."

His own throat constricted. "I know." He couldn't find words to say what he needed to. He cursed himself, he really wasn't good at the whole 'comforting' concept, but this was his sister, for all extensive purposes, and he had helped her out before. But of course, usually he hadn't caused her upset and he couldn't well give himself a black eye like he had with the last guy. "Where were you?" He didn't answer. "I saw on the news. Canary Wharf was destroyed." His face went blank at the mention of Canary Wharf. "And don't give me that crap about it being a terrorist bomb. It was an alien wasn't it?"

Ianto nodded with a heavy sigh, before reluctantly continuing. "Not just one but two of the cruellest aliens in existence..." He trailed off; refusing to go into detail and Rhiannon let it slide, for which he was grateful.

"How many-?" She cut herself off from saying that last, most important word.

"Died?" he guessed. "Over five hundred, it's still unsure. I am one of the twenty seven survivors." He smiled grimly at her gasp.

"And Lisa?" Rhiannon asked him, and he closed his eyes briefly; the image of her slumped against the wall eyes on him as he pulled the trigger, accepting death. "Ianto?"

"Dead." She pulled him into a hug and he felt himself reverberated as she shook with sobs, he stroked her hair softly trying to calm her. He heard the creaking of the door and saw Johnny standing there silently absorbing their current situation.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

"The library. You want to go to the library." Johnny shot him a disbelieving look from across the table, pausing in his stare to pass Mica the milk. "Why? You already know everything." Ianto snorted.

"He's right through Ianto." Rhiannon said. "Why are you going to the library?"

Ianto smirked. "It was a euphemism for-"

"Ianto." Johnny said warning, gesturing to the children, who were both looking at Ianto with huge smile, so glad again to see their Uncle Ianto that they were not at all aware of the conversation around them.

"Fine. I've got a new project." A very abstract one at that. All he had to go by was one name, Captain Jack Harkness.

"That's fine. You can go." Ianto glanced up at her suspiciously, wondering what the catch was. "As long as I go with you."

Ah, and there it was. The silver lining.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**The review button is the blue one at the bottom of the page. Just thought you ought to know. :D**

**Best wishes,**

**Lazi x **


	3. Bright Tracks

**Found this among in one of my many unused folders when organising my laptop - I thought I'd lost it but I figured I might as well post it. Thank you if you actually read this- it's been a looooong while. Hope you like it anyway!**

**Oh- before I forget- I own nothing. Everything belongs to the genius that is RTD except the storyline. :D**

"Can you please tell me what we are looking for?" Rhiannon asked him for what was the fifth time. He glanced at her across the table where she was leaning back in her chair with a thoughtful look on her that just promised that she would find out and once again he corrected her.

"You mean who **I **am looking for." He smiled softly as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Are you going to tell me or what?" In one move she pulled her legs down and leant forward, looking into his eyes earnestly.

He sighed at the anticipation in her eyes, and swung his legs round his chair to face her, closing the phonebook while he did so. Yes, he was desperate enough to try the phonebook. His findings however were…..zilch. Zit. Nada. Well, that is if you didn't count some guy from 1940 Cardiff. He sincerely doubted that the man he was looking for was him. Linked? Definitely; it was more likely than not the source of the alias, but almost certainly not him. "Look," he told her, "it's really nothing-"

Rhiannon cut him off, a look of irritation on her face. "If you say it's nothing to do with me, I swear-"

He rose his hands in surrender, conceding. If only the men at Torchwood One could see him now; Cybermen, sure he could fight them in his sleep and Daleks, bring it on, but with his sister he was all too eager to bring out the white flag of cowardice- or as he liked to call it calculated surrender. "Fine. I'm looking for someone."

"I'd guessed." She quipped, but fell silent under his deadpanned expression.

"He is, or at least presumably was last time I saw him, a Captain- not that he was likely to ever have actually been given the title but it was customary to choose one when-" He cut himself off shaking his head, he did not want to think about the agency. His sister looked calculatingly at him but didn't push, instead accepting his silence before asking a different question.

"So what's the name of your mystery man?" She teased.

His silence was enough. "You don't even know!" She laughed. "This is priceless! Mr I-know-everything doesn't even know the name of the person he's so fixated on finding!"

He rolled his eyes. She wasn't completely wrong there. "The name he's currently going by is Captain Jack Harkness. "

She grinned triumphantly- goading him always did seem to be the best way to get answers. "Who is he then?"

At this he frowned. "I don't entirely know-" She gave him a look, "Seriously I don't! There were few people who chose the title of Captain and it's common to keep the same initials, or first name or something! This guy Jack Harkness though, I don't know. There were no Jacks, Harkness' or JH's that I remember in the agency." He knew he was treading into dangerous territories here, for all he knew he could run into a former enemy or even risk interrupting a timeline of some sort, but part of him was hopeful. Hopeful that he could find a former friend, or it could be…

He shook his head again. Best not to hope too much. Then he'd be bound to be disappointed.

Rhiannon seemed to believe him. "Fine. " She fell silent again, watching him closely with an all too amused expression on her face.

He turned back to the phone book rubbing his eyes wearily, resigning himself to another futile attempt.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

"Aha!"

Rhiannon jumped- her head that had been resting on the desk flying up, eyes previously shut now alert as she flailed in her seat as he sniggered at her. "Who died?!"

He rolled his eyes. "I found him! Or rather I found 5 hims."

"How d'you know which one's the right one?"

"I don't!" He grinned at her.

She glared, unamused and he relented.

"Look-" He pointed at the list of names he'd recorded. "I'll try all of them and see what turns up. These three are in London, so I'll go there first. The guy I spoke to-" Owen Harper , he recalled, "was Cockney so I'll try there first. Then I'll try this one in Manchester. That one's in Wales so I'll be back before you know it. "

"But what if it is the one you're looking for?" She was staring at the ground, her eyebrows furrowed, refusing to catch his eyes as he scrutinised her expression.

"I don't know the answer to that, you know I don't." He replied quietly. " I have no idea who I'm going to see or even if any of this will lead me anywhere. I just don't." He leant forward, putting his hand on her arm, not saying anything until she made eye contact with him. Her eyes were slightly red and she scowled at him. "I'll only be a phone call away."

She pushed away angrily, gathering a few books from the collection piled next to him and crossly slamming them closed and pushing them aggressing onto their shelves, using more force than he would have thought necessary.

"That's what you said before and yet you couldn't find one moment to phone to say 'Oh wait- I may not actually be dead'!" She slammed another book for good measure, as if he hadn't noticed she was upset before glaring at him.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair and she softened. "Why not just phone? You've got the numbers haven't you?" She suggested.

"I can't- " He needed her to understand. "Imagine losing everything you had- your family, your friends, your job. " He stopped. "Micah, David, Johnny."

"I just want to know what happened to everyone- and if this stranger can tell me anything, then I have to speak to him. That doesn't mean I love you any less, or the kids." He reassured her. "I just need to know."

Lips still pursed and arms crossed she relented reluctantly. Not that she would have stopped him, he tried to tell himself. He would have gone anyway, he lied to himself, it wasn't like he was scared of her, or crying women at all.

"Let me come with you then."

"Where's the fun in that?" He crowed. "Anyway, I need something to distract me. It'll be like a road trip!"

She would, after all be a liability, a risk he could not afford in front of a potential threat. He knew what time agents were like after all, having been one himself for a time. They were merciless and he would be offering them blackmail on a plate if he met the wrong one.

"You are way too excited." She deadpanned.

"And I forgot how grumpy you are after you wake up. Ow!" He rubbed his arm where she'd hit him, smirking. "I'll tell Johnny." He warned her and she snorted.

"As if he'd do anything."

Ianto pouted. "He would if I asked."

"You wish."

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

And that's how he found himself standing in the middle of Roald Dahl Plass, completely and utterly confused.

People bustled around him, on or two muttering under their breath complaining that he was in the middle of the path but her ignored them.

Why did he do this? He asked himself. He really really wasn't ready for what he might find or even worse the possibility of finding nothing.

The rest of the names had found nothing, this was his last chance. He still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, he took in a deep breath, he would see.

Preparing himself, he head towards the tourist information centre, a dirty, horrible looking design he thought to himself, why a time agent would work there was beyond him. It was probably another empty trail.

And with that not-quite reassuring thought he walked into the derelict, empty building.

**Thanks for reading!  
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**~RWL  
>Xxx.<strong>


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